As a youth educator in San Francisco鈥檚 Mission District in the 1990s, Ben Kirshner saw firsthand the contradictions faced by students of color in school.
鈥淚 remember intellectually inclined youth who dove into conversations about 鈥榰rbanology鈥� but struggled to stay engaged in middle school social studies,鈥� says Kirshner, an associate professor in 欧美口爆视频 Boulder鈥檚 School of Education. 鈥淚 saw students who did everything 鈥榬ight鈥� in school but after graduation learned their school had not offered the courses they needed to be eligible for a four-year college.鈥�
Kirshner now studies learning environments that encourage students from marginalized communities to think critically about the world and use their experiences to improve their schools and cities.
His recent book, Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality, draws on this research, exploring how students build political power and learn through activism, even when facing racial inequality and limited educational opportunities. The book received the Society for Research on Adolescence鈥檚 Best Authored Book Award in 2016.
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Ben Kirshner
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School of Education